A Look at London’s Bitcoin ATM Scene

The United Kingdom is the third largest country with respect to the number of installed bitcoin ATMs, following after the U.S. and Canada, which are significantly larger both geographically and population-wise.

The United Kingdom is a home for 60 bitcoin ATMs at the time of writing.

The vast majority of the U.K.’s bitcoin machines — 45 bitcoin ATMs in total — are located in London, a global epicenter for multi-culturalism. These ATMs are represented by various ATM producers, with leading General Bytes (64%), but also Lamassu (22%) and BitAccess (11%). The main operators in London are Satoshi Point (42%), BCB ATM (16%), Bitins (13%) and Landmark Coins (11%), which combined represent more than 80% of all bitcoin machines in London.

Bitcoin ATM locations in London are very dispersed with some machines placed in the city center (districts like Soho, Fitzrovia), and plenty machines are scattered around the city and in suburbs.

The U.K.’s first bitcoin ATM was launched in East London in February 2014. This was a Lamassu machine, which was located at Old Shoreditch Cafe and bar in east London, a bitcoin accepting establishment in the vicinity of the Silicon Roundabout home of the East London Tech City. The machine was operated by a company called FutureCoins, which is no longer in bitcoin ATM business, however, many other operators entered market since then.

The leading bitcoin ATM operator in the London area is SatoshiPoint, which prefers using General Bytes ATM products. The operator first launched in Old. St Underground in 2014.

SatoshiPoint bitcoin ATM at Nincomsoup

“London is the financial capital,” a SatoshiPoint representative told Coin ATM Radar. “East London had CoinScrum hosting amazing bitcoin meetups and a few shops were accepting it, seemed like the perfect place to host the first ATM, the demand was much greater than anywhere else in the U.K.”.

In Bitcoin’s genesis block, creator Satoshi Nakamoto stated, “Chancellor on the brink of the second bailout for banks”. One of the most iconic moments for London’s Bitcoin ATM industry, then, came when the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, used a London bitcoin ATM in 2015 now operated by SatoshiPoint.

SatoshiPoint, at the time of writing, has around 25 locations installed in London, Manchester & Bristol.

London bitcoin ATMs map

It is fair to say that apart from large operators there are smaller and developing businesses enter bitcoin ATM scene, e.g. companies like Alphavend, Astra Pay LTD and Gidicoins. Each operates 2 bitcoin machines in London.

We reached out to them for comments as well. Astra Pay LTD operates in London also because it is the financial capital of the world, according to the company’s owner.

Astra Pay LTD bitcoin ATM at Secret Weapon in Stratford

“Due to the Brexit happening, London still wants to keep its leading positions as the financial capital at a time when modern finance is switching to Blockchain technologies,” a representative from Astra Pay LTC told Coin ATM Radar.

Currently, Astra Pay LTD’s Stratford branch is its busiest location. “This is explainable, considering Stratford is one of the major transportation hubs in London, connecting people from the Eastern part of London,” comments the Astra Pay LTD representative. “In addition to, there are such attractions as Olympic Village and Westfield Shopping Mall.”

Another relatively young operator is Alphavend. Company’s representative mentioned to Coin ATM Radar, that they concentrate on reliability and high availability of their machines. Given that bitcoin ATMs are a first experience for many Bitcoin users, it is very important to provide high quality service, and not to disappoint customers with technical issues. Top location from this operator is a machine at Alisons Store at Piccadilly Circus.

Operators generally report a diverse set of clients. “We see both students and professionals, those that are investing and those that are just experimenting and looking to learn more about Bitcoin. … Its surprising how many people will try the machines out with small transactions for just £10 or £20” — Alphavend representative told Coin ATM Radar.

Speaking about regulation there are rumors of future taxation and anti-money laundering regulations being developed in the United Kingdom, according to one bitcoin ATM operator in London. However, other on opposite mentioned that “regulators are taking a wait and see approach and have no plans to introduce regulations in respect of bitcoin ATMs”.

Stay tuned to Coin ATM Radar Blog to stay up to date on changes in the London Bitcoin ATM scene.